Tennessee took the field in Neyland Stadium on Monday for another session of fall camp. Here’s everything we saw:
The Vols were mostly working on timing routes. Granted, that’s usually all we get in the open portions of practice, but there was a different tempo to Monday’s session.
The quarterbacks and receivers upped the tempo. I thought that that group did a good job. Routes were crisp, and there were very few drops. But Butch Jones was adamant that they needed to pick up the pace. With two quarterbacks throwing at a time, once every receiver had caught a pass, the QBs would sprint twenty yards down the field.
None of the routes were farther than about five to ten yards. As we often see in these offseason practices, the emphasis was on timing. And both quarterbacks were fluid in their timing on five yard outs to the receivers and tight ends.
The linebackers worked on agility drills on the sideline in the first period while skill players returned punts. Freshman running back Ty Chandler and sophomore receiver Tyler Byrd were among those players fielding punts.
The loudest voice on the practice field — once again — was Walt Wells. In fact, you could hear him from any spot on the practice field.
Other notes and observations:
- Will McBride looks much more comfortable in the offense than when he started. He developed good timing with the wide receivers and completed the vast majority of his passes
- Austin Smith is adapting well to the linebacker position once again. In their agility drills, he looked like the quickest guy in that unit.
- Will Ignont, though undersized, is also very quick. If he can put on some weight this season, I expect him to play a big role next season.
- Kevin Beard ditched the wide receiver gloves and threw passes to a group of the wideouts. In that group was Josh Palmer and Jordan Murphy. With Josh Smith potentially sidelined, Palmer moved up in the pecking order and got some of the first reps in the individual drill with quarterbacks.
